Birth of a Legend
by DreamingInReality
Summary: This is the account of my Commander Shepard's story starting from the Mindoir incident and ending at the Citadel in Mass Effect 3. I hope you enjoy and feedback is welcome! Note: I did not create the picture. It was created by Hedrick-CS on deviantArt.
1. Chapter 1

Location: Mindoir

Year: 2170

"Come on, slowpoke, we're gonna miss it!"

Two shadows raced across the lush green fields of Mindoir, their figures silhouetted by the cascade of pink, purple, and orange all around them. It was the night of the Grand Syzygy, a day that only came once every ten thousand years. The orbiting cycles of Mindoir and other planets in the Elysta cluster of the Ismar Frontier would match up perfectly, all five planets aligning one behind the other. With the planets' close proximity with one another, the inhabitants of the colony would be able to see the outline of the planets as the central star illuminated them with its light. With Saleas's and Zeona's quick orbital period, however, it was only sure to last a few hours and they wouldn't even see Melile, the last planet in the system, because of its smaller radius compared to the second-to-last planet Hesano.

"Anasthatha, wait!"

In front of the second figure was a taller one, a young girl in her mid-teenage years. Her long auburn hair, nearly extending down to her butt, was constructed into a braid that was now loosening due to the rush of wind in her face. Hair frayed in all sections except for the top of her head, the hair held down by a cap with the Alliance logo on it. It was old, much of the color faded to a grayish color and crumpled with excessive use. Even one of the sewn stars that made up the logo had unraveled and fallen off sometime over the decade she had it. It was given to her by a passing Alliance patrol, a young pilot slapping it onto her head affectionately when she spoke of her desire to fly a spaceship in the future. Sadly, that wasn't the life for a farmer.

"Ana, wait!"

The second figure, who had fallen incredibly behind now, was a six-year-old girl the auburn-haired teenager, Anastasia, had babysat for her parents who were much too busy working in the fields to watch after the infant. Ana had watched the young girl grow, thinking fondly of her as the little sister she never had. Being the only female child in a family of six, her mom was the only one she could relate to but she was busy most of the time watching after the younger boys. It was nice to have a girl to hang out with, even if she wasn't her age. The six-year-old was named Talitha and had beautiful, wavy brown hair that reached just past her shoulders. She still had the appearance of a child with a round face and small facial features. The second of her two front teeth had fallen out about a week ago, giving her more of a lisp than she had before. Honestly, it was adorable to hear coming from her.

Talitha fumbled along behind Anastasia, tripping constantly due to the rubber boots she wore on her feet. Those boots were made for farm work, not athletics. It didn't help that her jeans were a bit too long for the poor girl. Ana spared a glance over her shoulder, expression softening a bit. Talitha was only half her height and here she was rushing her along. Within moments, she was at the girl's side who had started crying because she felt alone.

"Don't worry, I'm here," Ana cooed, kneeling down with her back facing the small girl. "Climb on," she offered, flashing a white grin at her friend.

Talitha rubbed at her eyes with the sleeves of her shirt. "A-Are we gonna b-be lathe?" she asked, wrapping her arms around Ana's neck and her legs around the older girl's waist.

"Not with my super-fast speed~" Ana replied optimistically, standing up when she was sure that the girl was securely fastened onto her back. "Hold on tight!" she added before darting back off across the field. The grass was nearly waist high the further they traveled away from the village. Some space cows darted off in different directions when the two got too close, Ana heading straight for a large oak tree in the distance. It was her favorite spot to just sit get away from the busy life of a farmer and think or daydream about the future. She was serious when she wanted to be a pilot. She /still/ wanted to be a pilot.

"Okay," the redhead piped up when they reached the base of the tree. It was /enormous/, nearly six feet across and one-hundred-and-ten feet tall. The large roots dispersed across the ground as if the tree were desperately clinging to the Earth beneath it. The branches were lower to the ground, thankfully, and Ana had already tied a rope around one of them to hoist herself up to the higher branches. With Talitha still latched onto her back, she took hold of the rope and started scaling the tree, stepping carefully onto each branch before they were high enough to where they would see the view perfectly. "Down you go," she told the young girl, hefting her from her back and setting her down on the wide branch, taking a seat next to her. "I brought some snacks, too~" She pulled out two small bananas from her deep pocket, handing over one to Talitha.

"Don't tell my mom I took them from the pantry," Ana added with a wink, peeling hers and taking a bite off of the top. Talitha giggled and did the same. She was very prone to copying everything Anastasia did, looking up to her as a role model.

The sun continued to set behind them, the shades of pink and purple getting darker with each passing moment. In front of them, the planets were moving ever so slowly behind each other until they matched up perfectly. It was like a work of art, the smaller planets right in the center of the larger ones, looking like a circle within a circle within a circle. Circleception as the twenty-first century people would call it. The borders were barely even noticeable. The pale yellow color of Zeona melded with the light orange landscape of Odasst before darkening further to a deep red with strips of yellow racing across the surface. They weren't the most beautiful colors in the universe, but it was truly a marvelous sight to see.

"Wow!" Talitha commented with a gasp, pointing at each of the planets and counting them out aloud. "Wait, there'th two mithing," she stated in that cute lisp of hers.

"Saleas is behind us," I replied with a laugh, turning to point at it through the leaves. It was slightly paler than Zeona with a pink shell around it. Talitha grinned.

"And Melile is behind the biggest planet, Hesano," I added. "We wouldn't be able to see it unless we had a spaceship and could get behind the other planets."

"You mean like that one?" she asked, pointing towards the sky.

Out in the distance, from the direction where the blinking blue light that was the mass relay sat, came a ship. It was small, just a cruiser and Ana thought just for a moment that it was a passing Alliance cruiser… another patrol to check on the colonies out near the Terminus Systems.

She was dead wrong.

Soon, the one cruiser was joined by many others and none of the bore the Alliance logo that was known across the land. On the side of each of those cruisers, painted in white were shapes that resembled a face, a mixture between a skull and living person but with four eyes instead of two. They weren't human.

She grabbed Talitha and climbed further up the tree, far enough that the leaves would provide them a good hiding place from these intruders.

"What'th goin' on?" she whispered, but Ana clamped a hand over her mouth, blue eyes wide with confusion and a hint of fear. Something terrible was about to happen, she was sure. But what? Maybe they would just pass over the land and continue on to another planet.

The cruisers flew right past the tree and Ana's gaze followed them as they headed straight for the village. She could see them land a good distance from the main buildings before everything seemed to burst into flames.

"NO!"

Ana nearly leaped to the ground, grabbing the lowest branch just in time so she wouldn't break a leg. The sudden jerk upwards tore a ligament in her right shoulder, but she pushed on, crouching low into the grass and beginning to run towards the village.

"Ana!" Talitha screamed from the branch the redhead had left her on.

"Stay there!" Ana ordered. "You'll be safe!" She didn't say anymore as she tore off for the village. Little Talitha wasn't about to sit and watch as their home burned. She began climbing down, struggling with each branch but making progress nonetheless.

"Momma! Papa!" the teenager cried out over the roar of the flames that surrounded the village. It singed the outer layer of skin, but she just took a deep breath as she leaped right through the fire. What she saw would haunt her for the rest of her life.

Colonists were scrambling all over the place, some bleeding profusely from bullets that tore gaping holes in their bodies. Others were on fire, screaming for someone to help them and put them out. Ana looked on in horror, unable to do anything. It was utter chaos. Bodies were piled all around, women, men, and children dead with eyes wide but unseeing and mouths open from the last anguished cry they managed to let out. None of them had weapons, so they fell like sacks of potatoes. They were just a farming colony after all, though they should have been more prepared for something like this.

Who was the enemy though?

"Momma! Papa!" Ana cried out again, coughing as smoke began to fill her lungs. She ripped off her jacket, using it to cover her mouth as she traversed deeper into the slaughter. "Bryce?! Spence?! Carter?! Anyone!" Most of her cries were drowned out by the screams of others. They ran past her towards the wall of flames, trying to escape. Behind her, she could hear the gunshots, shooting all of those poor people down. The enemy must have set a perimeter to take down anyone who tried to get away.

Suddenly, a little body shot past Ana, heading deeper into the village. It was Talitha.

"Talitha, no!" Ana cried out, running to catch up to her, but colliding into one of the other colonists. She flew back a little way, falling to the ground on her back before quickly flipping over and scanning the area. The smoke was too thick to determine where the little girl vanished, however. She'd find Talitha… just as soon as she found her family.

Again, Ana pushed herself up from the ground, weaving through the crowds of people running in the opposite direction. Her coughs increased in frequency, her voice hoarse from calling out her family's names. The heat of the fire and the unbearable smoke made her eyes well up with tears, as did the fear of never seeing her family again or dying. Up ahead was a bright light, either the light the flames cast across the land or the headlights of the cruiser. She wasn't sure, but she followed it… right to her home.

Standing out in the fresh-cut lawn, all on their knees with their hands behind their heads were her family. Little Bryce, who was only four years old, began to wail in fear. Spence, his twin, imitated it soon after. Ana's mom tried to calm them down, but something lashed out from the darkness and struck her in the side of the face. It was then that Ana's eyes fell upon the monsters that were attacking her home. Batarians. Slave traders, most likely.

"Let them cry," one of the four-eyed brutes shouted, his voice cold, rough, unforgiving. From the way the other Batarians stood behind him without interfering, Ana could deduce that he was the leader. He suddenly bent down; his ugly face mere centimeters from Bryce's. "You scared, kid?"

Bryce's cries only grew in volume, his face red from the energy it took to wail so loud. Tears streamed down his precious face and the Batarian just laughed at him. He suddenly straightened up, pulling out a pistol and shooting both Bryce and Spence point-blank in the forehead. Ana's scream rivaled her mother's and time seemed to slow down as the twins' eyes began to roll back into their heads, their small bodies, devoid of life, falling back to the floor. Carter was the first to move, leaping up as he rushed towards the Batarian leader to tackle him. The other Batarians finally unleashed fire, filling Ana's older brother with bullet holes. Ana's dad managed to grab the pistol in the leader's hands and attempted to shoot, but there were too many of them to take down in such a short time. Some of the other Batarians began shooting at him, the leader slashing his throat with an Omniblade and ripping his pistol out of Ana's dad's hand. The only one who didn't move was Ana's mother. She had heard her daughter's scream when the twins were murdered, turning to face her with fearful eyes filled to the brim with tears.

"Run, Ana!" she shouted, the words coming out painfully slow and reaching Ana's ears only after she witnessed her mom's head falling from her body and made eye contact with one of the Batarians. In that moment, with the adrenaline pumping through her systems, she took off with a speed not known to her before. The Batarians shouted, taking off after her through the village, but she had the home advantage. With her small frame, she was able to squeeze through places that the Batarians would either have to plow through or run around just to get to the other side. The fleeing colonists slowed them down as well, though it didn't take but a bullet to knock them out of the way for good.

As the redhead managed to outrun those chasing her, she began to search for a good place to hide. Everything was on fire, but there were some underground bunkers around for when the extreme rainstorms came rolling in. She noticed a spire through the smoke; the church! Without thinking she dashed forward, now in the direction that many of the colonists were travelling in. She was too distracted by the sheer possibility of escaping this horrible nightmare that she failed to notice the strange beeping occurring right underneath her feet. So did everyone else. The ground began to quake and suddenly burst like lava bursting from the magma chamber of a volcano. The Batarians had set proximity mines around the church after discovering that it could be used as a place for colonists to hide. To reduce how many they would have to shoot, they just set up mines around the church to take out many at a time. Ana wasn't near the mine as someone else had triggered it, but she was close enough to be sent flying through the air and right into the side of the building, knocked out cold.

Hours later, consciousness began to return to the teenager. At first, all she did was listen around her. It was eerily quiet with only the crackle of the dying flames to fill the empty void left by the Batarians. Ana groaned before wheezing and letting out a cough from her smoke-filled lungs. She could feel something sticky and wet on the side of her face, reaching up to wipe it off only to discover it was her own blood. Her hand fell back to the ground as her gaze roamed over the scene before her. Everything was charred and bodies littered the ground surrounded by puddles of blood. The sky was raining ashes, coating her skin with it. Again, she coughed, the stench of death reaching her nostrils and making her dry heave onto the black ground.

"Check around. Make sure you've got everyone," a voice suddenly said through the darkness. For a moment, she thought it was the Alliance coming to save the colonists that survived… if they survived, but she could recognize that crude voice anywhere now. It was the Batarian leader. If he was coming for her, she wasn't going without a fight.

Ana scrambled to her feet, a little disoriented as the blood rushed from her head back down to her feet, and glanced around, noticing that she was next to a shed where they housed some of the tools used to farm. Most of it was burned down, but she managed to find a hoe in the back and gripped it tightly in her hands.

"Did you hear that?" another Batarian asked, alert to the noise coming from the shed. Some of the tools fell, giving away Ana's position.

The Batarian leader and two others went to check it out and Ana pressed herself against a wall, waiting for the opportune moment. As soon as one of the lackeys came close enough, she stepped from the shadows and slashed him right in the throat. The other whipped out his pistol, but Ana knocked it straight from his hands, the sharp blade of the hoe crashing down right in the center of his head, stopping just under his nose. He fell to the ground, bleeding profusely from the split and sputtering before his body stilled. Where was the leader, though? She was sure she heard his voice.

"You're a tough one, aren't you?" came a sinister voice from behind her. She turned to see the leader behind her, his Omniblade out in front of him. Again, she acted without thinking, swinging the hoe at him, but he cut the part housing the blade right off, sending it flying through the air behind the teenager. She gasped with horror as she realized that just a stick wasn't going to get her anywhere. The leader laughed with sadistic glee at the human's predicament, refraining from killing her as he liked to toy with his prey.

Ana began to back up, swinging what was left at the hoe at him, but he kept cutting it down shorter and shorter until there was nothing left. When her options were cut short, she tried to run but the leader grabbed her ankle causing her to fall and bust her chin open. He laughed again, but didn't expect Ana, now enraged, to swing her free leg around and kick him straight in the face. He stumbled backwards, stunned by her initiative and wiped the dirt off of his face.

"Enough games," he said dangerously, moving for the kill towards Ana who was huddled on the ground. He raised his Omniblade so that it was targeted for the back of the teenager's head. Just as he thrust his arm forward to impale her, she turned, slashing the leader with the blade of the hoe right through two of his eyes as his blade struck her in the already damaged right shoulder. Both of them cried out in pain, Ana dropping the blade and trying desperately to crawl away with a triumphant look as she watched the blue liquid seep from beneath the Batarians hand that now covered his wound.

"Why you little-!" he screeched, half of his face bloodied as he pulled out a gun and aimed it at her head. She was afraid, her heart pounding against her chest so much that it hurt, but she held her head up high, sneering at him. At least she disabled him in some way. Now she could just be with her family.

Or so she thought…

The leader suddenly laughed, his voice a mixture of pain and pleasure at the same time. He looked maniacal and she couldn't understand why.

"You'd like me to kill you, wouldn't you?" he remarked, a smile crossing his face. It was the most horrible thing she had ever seen. "But that would be too easy. I remember you. You're the girl my men were chasing after we killed that precious family of yours. You want to join them, huh? Rebellion is your attempt at redemption?" He barked out a laugh, kneeling down in front of her. "I have a better plan for you."

He quickly reached out and grabbed her disheveled braid, lifting her right up off the ground as her face distorted with the searing pain in her head. She reached up to grab the base of the braid, trying to relieve the pain if only a little. And then the leader began to drag her across the ground as she writhed and screamed and kicked in an attempt to get away. No other Batarians joined him, leading her to the conclusion that he, and those two that she killed, were the only ones left on the planet. All of the others must have gone already. As she was dragged across the ground, she noticed a ship in the distance. It must have been his… What a sick, twisted ploy of fate. She would finally get a chance to board a spaceship and it was as a prisoner with no hope of piloting it.

As they arrived, the leader thrust her into the brig. Despite how exhausted she was, Ana threw herself at the metal bars, pounding against them until her knuckles started to bleed. To stop the annoying clanging of the bars, the leader set up a kinetic barrier that would electrocute her every time she touched those bars. It worked as she was sent flying back into the wall, knocked unconscious yet again.

"Hand me the scalpel, will you?"

"What do you want me to do with this… disgusting thing?"

"Eugh, don't wave it at me!"

"It's not going to attack you. It's just the human's hair."

"Will you two shut up and hand me the damn scalpel?!"

"The monitors are going nuts. I think it's waking up."

Ana groaned, opening her eyes to three figures standing over her. One of them held her long braid in his hands and the heart monitor sped up with her heartbeats. She tried to move, but her arms and legs were restrained. One of the Batarians, a doctor most likely, flashed a sharp-toothed smile down at her, tapping the middle of her forehead with a claw.

"You're awake. Good," he remarked. "We wouldn't want you asleep during surgery, would we?"

"Wh-What happened? What are you going to do with me?" Ana questioned, her lower lip trembling and vision blurring with tears. They wanted her awake for the surgery? Knowing these guys, they wouldn't use any painkillers.

"The same thing we do to other humans," he replied casually, shrugging and shoving the other two away when they began whacking each other with the braid. "We don't destroy all of them. How would we make a profit then?" He laughed. "No, we implant a small little chip into your tiny human brain that takes away your willpower so you do whatever we want you to do."

Ana's eyes widened. "Wh-Why? Why are you doing this? We never did anything to you!"

"Hah! Is that what you think? You humans are all the same: stupid. You encroached on our land!" he bellowed, filling a syringe with some strange yellow liquid. "You think you can just go wherever you want and /take/ whatever you want?! You're not welcome in this galaxy! If you were smart, you would have just stayed on that pathetic planet of yours, but /no/ you just had to keep expanding. If you ask me, the human species is a little… overpopulated." All three of the Batarians burst out into raucous laughter then. "But at least we can make a profit off of you," the doctor added after they had settled down. "You'll be sold as an obedient slave and that'll be the end of you."

"Yes, we particularly like the rebellious ones. They're the most fun to break," came another voice from the doorway. Ana's head jerked to the side, watching as the leader stepped into the room. His wound was cleaned up and whatever he used to do that left him with only a scar… no stitches or gauze of any type. A grin stretched across his face, a triumphant gleam in two of his eyes as the others were now glazed over. At least she half-blinded him.

"Solem," the doctor remarked, looking surprised to see him down in the med bay.

"What's taking so long, doctor?" the Batarian asked, his eyes never leaving Ana's.

"S-Sorry, these two idiots were distracted by the human's hair."

"That doesn't explain why /you're/ distracted. Ranting about our anger gets us nowhere. Taking action, now that has accomplished something. Hurry up so we can drop this filth off at Illium."

"Yes sir," the doctor replied, injecting the yellow liquid into Ana's bloodstream. Nothing happened at first before ever so slowly, everything became numb to her. She couldn't feel her legs, her arms, couldn't move them! It was a paralytic, designed to keep her stationary and quiet as they worked. All she could do was look on as they would slowly cut her open.

"Now hand me that scalpel!" the doctor barked once more as one of the assistants tossed it to him. He grinned deviously at the girl who couldn't move, lowering the scalpel to her forehead and slicing through the skin. The pain was terrible, her skin stinging as fresh blood dripped down her face making her vision red when some dripped into her eyes. She wanted to scream, wanted to move but she was trapped inside her own mind and completely aware of the situation.

The doctor cut a slant in her forehead, turning it to make an 'X' where the chip would go before the entire ship began to quake. All three of the Batarians stopped and whispered to each other, wondering what was going on and concluding that it was just turbulence. As the doctor reached down with his scalpel again, the ship rocked harder. Suddenly, the two sides of the door flew across the room, crashing into the glass cabinets and spilling chemicals and tools everywhere.

"Drop everything and put your hands behind your head!" came a booming voice from the door. It was an Alliance soldier, somewhere in his early thirties with dark skin and a blue, camouflage military uniform on. His balding head was covered with a cap that matched his uniform.

The Batarians, unarmed at the moment, conceded as more Alliance soldiers rushed in to cuff them and drag them out of the area. The dark-skinned man stepped up to Ana carefully, putting his gun away so as not to scare her. "It's alright," he said gently. "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm an Alliance soldier and I'm on your side."

There was no reaction from Ana which put him on edge. As he approached her, he could see that she was still alive: the heart monitor displayed her rapid heartbeat and he could see her chest rising and falling, albeit with some difficulty. The soldier cursed under his breath. "They used a damn paralytic." The Batarians were terrible at medicine, allowing for all kinds of contaminants into their supply and failing to clean their utensils at all. He was afraid that what they used to paralyze her would last forever.

"Don't worry," he assured her, trying to stay optimistic. "I'm going to get you out of here." With that, he broke the restraints and picked her up into his arms, her head hanging limply over one of his arms and limbs dangling as he walked out of the med bay. He continued down a short hall before coming out to the main area of the ship where many other Alliance soldiers were gathered.

"Anderson," one of the commented, rushing up to the soldier. "Is she…?"

"She's alive," Anderson replied. "They paralyzed her. We need to bring her to a hospital immediately."

"Alliance headquarters?"

"Yes."

That Anderson carried her onto a different ship filled with humans and straight into a separate room. He sat down on a small couch, keeping the teenager in his arms as the ship detached itself from the Batarian ship and headed for the nearest mass relay.

"You poor child," Anderson said, pulling out a handkerchief and wiping the blood from the redhead's face. "What you've been through… It must have been horrible. But it'll get better. You have to be strong." To give her a piece of mind, Anderson closed her eyelids and held her against his warmth. She just listened for a while before the exhaustion took over and she fell into a deep sleep.

She wasn't sure how long it had been when she awoke next. Part of her feared that the Alliance saving her had been nothing but a dream. She still woke up in a hospital, but no Batarian faces were staring down at her. Her limbs were no longer numb, thankfully, and she stretched her toes and fingers. There were quiet voices in the hallway, all female and it was then that she realized she was in a human hospital. Carefully, she sat up in the bed, glancing at her reflection in the window. She looked a lot better and they didn't cut all of her hair, at least. Gauze was wrapped around her head and shoulder and her body was clean and for the first time, she felt relieved.

A nurse came in a few moments later, carrying a tray of food for the girl. She hadn't eaten in days as she now realized.

"You're awake," the woman remarked, sending a chill down Ana's spine as that matched the same thing the Batarian said. "I brought you some food. Your stomach's been rumbling since you got here." She chuckled, setting the tray down on the table beside the girl and checking her vitals. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore," she admitted. "But better than before…"

"Good, good. Is there anything else I can get you?"

"No, but I have to ask you something."

"What is it, dear?"

"My home… Mindoir, it was attacked. Did anyone… Did anyone else make it out alive?"

"If they did, the Alliance didn't find them…"

Ana could feel a lump in her throat rising and simply nodded before the nurse gave her a hug. "I'm so sorry. No one should have to go through that, especially at such a young age."

The redhead let her tears fall silently down her cheeks before breaking away from the hug. "Where am I?"

"Alliance headquarters, dear," the nurse replied, tucking a strand of the girl's red hair behind her ear.

"Who's in charge?"

"Admiral Hackett."

"Take me to him."

Ana was led down multiple hallways, taking an elevator to the very top of Alliance headquarters on Earth before stopping in front of a sliding glass door. She wore simple clothes now: a blank t-shirt, white jacket, and dark-washed jeans with black tennis shoes. The nurse fixed her hair so it looked neater and sent her on her way with one of the Alliance soldiers. Looking in through the glass, she could see Admiral Hackett inside with the same soldier that had rescued her. They were chatting, but she didn't know what about. Hearing her presence, they both turned, looking quietly stunned.

Ana, though her palms were sweaty from nervousness, stepped forward to Hackett's desk, standing proud with her chin pointing towards the sky. "Admiral Hackett," she greeted, saluting him like any other soldier would. "I want to join the Alliance."

"What's your name, soldier?"

"Anastasia, sir. Anastasia Shepard."


	2. Chapter 2

_"Ana!"_

_"Keep running, Ana! Don't look back!"_

_"H-Huh? What? Where… where am I?"_

_Anastasia opened her eyes to find herself standing up, dressed in her military uniform. All around her was an endless expanse of woods. Nothing about these woods were normal, though. Every tree was completely black and leafless, wavering like a reflection on rough waters. Even the trunks of the trees weren't still. Only those closest to her seemed to solidify until she stepped away from them and further into the strange world. Black snow fell from the sky and it was only when she wiped a bit of it off of her cheek with a finger that she realized it was ash. Looking up, she saw only white. White and black… the only colors in this place. Even she seemed to blend in with the color scheme._

_"Ana!"_

_The redhead whipped around, blue eyes scanning the darkness for the source of the noise, but she could hear the whispering all around her. Someone was calling out her name, screaming, begging for help. It sounded so familiar. Was it…? No, it couldn't be. Talitha? And those words… Her mom? Were they here?_

_"Momma?" Ana called out as her voice echoed across the abyss._

_No answer. She stepped further into the darkness, leaves crunching and disintegrating under her feet. _

_"Hello?! Talitha? Momma? Is anyone out there?!"_

_The whispers abruptly ceased, only silence filling the air before she could hear moans. Someone was crying, but there was more than just one person. It sounded like dozens, maybe hundreds._

_"Aaaaannnaaaa~" _

_Sweat began to bead at her forehead as she slowly turned around. Her heart beat at a hundred miles an hour, enough to nearly make her deaf because of it, but when she turned around her gaze fell on her family. Bryce, Spence, Carter, her mom and dad, Talitha, even the rest of Mindoir… they all stood there staring back at her. Her gut warned her that all was not what it seemed, but the happiness she felt at that moment drowned it out. She began to run towards them, but her footsteps were heavy and slow as if she were trudging through water or thick mud. What was going on? Glancing down at her combat boots, she realized that black wisps were erupting from the ground and wrapping tightly against her ankles, beginning to drag her down into its unfathomable depths. She looked up desperately at the people of Mindoir, reaching out a hand for them to grab._

_It was then that she noticed a gruesome metamorphosis beginning to take place. The once lively appearance of the colonists took on a ghastly form. Their cheeks were sunken in as if they were made of nothing but skin and bones. It occurred to Ana that their clothes probably hid the rest of that deformation. One by one their eyes began to roll and sink into the back of their heads before there was nothing but black holes left. The same happened to their nose. They just … disappeared, giving them all the distinct visage of a skeleton. They opened their mouths in unison, nearing the point where their jaws would just break off and emitted such a horrible cacophony of screams, moans, and pleads for help that it physically drained Ana of energy._

_"I'm sorry," she whispered, the black wisps now wrapping around her wrists like chains to prevent further movement. "I'm so sorry… I couldn't save you. I couldn't save any of you…"_

_From the incomprehensible noise, she could hear someone whispering her name. It continuously increased in volume before the world began to crumble away beneath her feet, a white flash of light blinding her._

_"ANA!"_

"Ana! Ana, wake up!"

Ana's eyes shot open and it was then that she realized she was levitating in the air surrounded by a light purple nebulous shell. It evaporated as soon as she was fully conscious and she fell to the floor with a THUD!

"Ugh! Ow…" she muttered, sitting up and rubbing the bump that was beginning to form on the back of her head.

"Finally," a female voice from beside her remarked. It was Rachel Givens, a friend of hers that she met in the Alliance military. "You were freaking us out with those biotics of yours. Bad dream again?" she asked, already fully dressed in her uniform and raring to go. She would have asked if Ana wanted to talk about it, but she knew by now that Ana wasn't one to talk about her problems. Rachel didn't even know where she was from, just that she had been under the care of David Anderson for two years before she joined the Alliance military.

"Yeah…What time is it?" Ana asked groggily, resting her face in her hands.

"We have about a minute before we're supposed to be down in the mess hall. Meet you down there!" she sang before dashing out of the room.

"Shit!"

It had been six years since the incident on Mindoir. Though she asked to join the Alliance straightaway, Anastasia was underage. David Anderson took her under his wing after the failure to find any surviving family members and rather than making the poor child grow up on the streets of Earth, he adopted her as his own. For two years she lived with him, though most of the time he was away on active duty for the Alliance, leaving her to fend for herself (not without setting up her own banking account with plenty of money, however). Those days were… difficult, to say the least. Every week a therapist would come to the house, but Ana never spoke about her past. Soon, she repressed those dark memories except for the few times that they would resurface as the most horrible of nightmares. On the rare occasion that Anderson was home, he would help her train physically and mentally for the challenges she would face in the Alliance. She learned quickly and showed the potential to be a powerful biotic. As a gift for her seventeenth birthday, Anderson paid for L3 implants. From then on her powers grew exponentially, rivaling even the Asaris' biotic prowess.

Two years after she moved in with Anderson, Anastasia enlisted in the Alliance military. Now she was in her fourth year on active duty and planned to engage in a long career in the Alliance. There was something about it… Maybe it was the fact that it kept her busy all the time, no time to really think about anything so she wouldn't have to revisit past memories. It was also a chance to redeem herself. She couldn't protect her family, but when she had her own squadron under her control, she'd be able to take care of them. The past four years at Arcturus Station doing shakedown runs in the Terminus Systems taking care of pirates didn't offer that chance yet, but maybe soon..

"That must be a new record," Rachel called from across the mess hall as Anastasia came bounding in through the entrance. She reserved one of the smaller tables for her and their friend Richard Jenkins to sit, the handsome sandy brown-haired soldier leaning back in his chair with an empty bowl in front of him. Ana laughed and jogged over to the counter to grab the breakfast slop they were usually given before heading over to sit with her friends.

"You know me, I like being fashionably… early," she replied, slurping her breakfast as quickly as possible before they were called out to the field for training. Her face turned sour much like the taste of the slop she had been given for breakfast. "Oh man, Hector's just not on his game this week…"

Both Rachel and Richard burst out laughing, Richard nearly falling backwards out of his chair. "That's why I just pour mine in the plant pots over there. It's worked for me, but I think ol' Giers is getting suspicious now that the plants are dying…"

"You're so bad," Ana chided, shaking her head though smiling nonetheless.

"Hell yeah, I'm a rebel," he bellowed in reply, winking at her which made her cheeks flush a dark shade of red. They had been courting each other since they met, but never made a serious relationship out of it. It was just harmless flirtation, really.

"A rebel, huh? I'd say extra time on the obstacle course is needed to straighten you out, wouldn't you?"

All three of the soldiers froze upon hearing that voice, a chill racing down their spines before they quickly scrambled up and saluted their commanding officer: Lieutenant Commander Giers. No smile ever formed on those scarred lips of his and many considered him a real asshole. They bit their tongue and dealt with it, though. He was of a higher rank than them. They were mere Corporals.

"Oh, and you too, Shepard, for your sloppiness in the barracks."

Ana grimaced, mentally chastising herself for forgetting to make her bed. She gave a curt nod to her commanding officer. "Aye aye sir!"

He turned away from them then and addressed the rest of the soldiers in the mess hall. "Enough dilly-dallying, maggots! Get your asses to the fields! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!"

That mess hall was completely empty within seconds, all of the bowls stacked up near the dishwasher. Hector sighed. It was going to be a long day.

"Hit the track!" Giers ordered after he had made it outside. Ana would have joined her friends, but this was the time for training not chatting.

"You can move faster than that! Keep those legs moving! It's double lavatory duty for /anyone/ who slows down! And Shepard, I better not see you using those fancy-schmancy biotics of yours again!"

And thus, the day had begun. After half an hour of jogging around the track, they were sent through the normal drills and training: marches (flanking, forward, rear, etc.), pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, other workouts for the core of the body, and the obstacle course. Everyone was finished by sun-down except for Shepard and Jenkins who still had to run through the obstacle course another twenty times. Oh punishment, how much they hated thee.

"The faster you move, the faster you get inside!" Giers barked, following them along the obstacle course from the sidelines. Ana was already three laps ahead of poor Jenkins who was just ready to give out by that point. She breathed heavily through her nose, darting across the rope bridge and to the top of the obstacle course where she would scale down the twenty foot wall. Halfway down, she noticed someone running from the main base towards Giers. When she touched the ground, he immediately approached her, grabbing both her and Jenkins and dragging them inside where the other soldiers were.

"Everyone to the SSV Pandora immediately!" he shouted, Ana and Jenkins stumbling towards the crowd. "I want everyone there in no more than five minutes! Get your belongings and get your asses to the docking port!"

"Aye aye!" all of the soldiers replied in unison, rushing off to the barracks to pack their bags. They didn't know where they were going, but they knew that Alliance Command had called for more soldiers to be sent to the frontlines. It looked like they were going to see some real action after all.

Within ten minutes, Giers's squadron was boarded onto the SSV Pandora, all of them gathered in the large debriefing room that could house nearly five-hundred soldiers. Their commanding officer stood at the front, waiting for everyone to take a seat before he would begin speaking. Ana took a seat next to Rachel and Jenkins, resting her arms on the curved table in front of them that stretched across the entire room. Everyone lurched forwards as the pilot activated the FTL drives and shot straight through one of the many mass relays surrounding the station.

"We received word from Alliance High Command. Admiral Hackett has requested more infantrymen on the frontlines. This is /not/ a drill or a normal shakedown run. We are at war with an overwhelming enemy force of pirates, mercenaries, slavers and warlords. We've lost hundreds of men and women already, so you better be ready. We have a few hours before we arrive at the rendezvous coordinates, so I suggest you get some rest before the assault. Any questions?"

"What species is the enemy, sir?" one of the soldiers asked from the bottom row.

"Batarians," he replied simply. "They've attacked a colony in the Skyllian Verge: Elysium."

Ana's eyes widened as screams of horror filled her ears once more and the stench of dead flesh made her gag.

_No…_


	3. Chapter 3

Location: Elysium

Year: 2176

"Come on, maggots! Move move move!"

Hundreds of Alliance soldiers poured through the door of the SSV Pandora, geared up and ready to fight. Giers's squadron was divided up into different sectors depending on the class of soldiers. Engineers worked in the back ranks, sending out drones and traps to weaken shields and barriers. Infiltrators were sent to higher ground for better vantage points and the sentinels were spread throughout the battlefield to provide support for the injured or incapacitated and escort civilians to safety. The soldiers and adepts were the main fighting force, but it was the vanguards who led others into battle. It just so happened that Ana herself was a vanguard, taking up the front lines with the others that had already arrived beforehand. She stepped out of the SSV Pandora gingerly, taking in the scene before her. Bullets whizzed through the air causing shields to light up a bright purple when the bullets made contact with them. The Alliance had set up a good defensive perimeter around the colony, but the Batarians were a relentless bunch. Suddenly, Ana found herself being pushed to the ground right behind a small mound of dirt.

"Are you crazy? Don't just stand there like a deer in the headlights!" she heard someone shout, though everything seemed blurred. Even the soldier screaming at her was just a faded image, noise with no clarity. What was she doing there?

"Do you hear me, soldier?!" the voice interrupted again. She came to, shaking her head to rattle her brain from the temporary immobilization before nodding at the vanguard that had saved her. He frowned at her, bushy eyebrows furrowed with concern and a bit of fury. It looked like he had been pierced quite a bit with bullets, but he was still fighting. "You're not well," he concluded, tapping his finger against his ear where a nearly invisible communication link was located. "Sanders—" he started before Ana interrupted him.

"No! I'm alright, sir!" she protested, reaching behind her to unclip the assault rifle from the mounted multi-gun holster on her back. Before the sentinel he contacted was able to reach her, she had darted onto the battlefield, shields flaring as she activated her barrier defenses. Oh she was afraid, that much was for certain, but if she received a dishonorable discharge because she had stage fright, she would never be able to face Anderson. Being the adopted daughter of one of the most phenomenal soldiers in Alliance Navy history put her under a lot of pressure. She didn't want him to think she was a failure.

When she caught up to the front lines, they were already advancing on the enemy. The Batarians scattered as the ruthless vanguards pelted them with biotics. Something about the strategic placement of the soldiers on the battlefield didn't seem right. It was segregated. None of the different classified groups were working together. In fact, the vanguards completely disregarded helping the soldiers who, without any special powers, couldn't defend themselves properly. They hid behind buildings and crates, but the war beasts the Batarians had brought to battle could sniff them out easily. Scanning the area from behind the smoldering remains of someone's house, she noticed a group of soldiers pinned down near a Batarian cruiser. One of the enemy biotics had lifted a large pillar and thrown it at them, catching one of the poor soul's legs under it. He cried out for help but his fellow soldiers couldn't get close enough to rescue him.

"Chek! Chek!" the Batarians roared, unleashing the war beasts from their cages. With maws of that size, the poor soldiers wouldn't have a chance.

Not on Ana's watch.

"Aghhh! Help me!" the soldier cried, trying to grab his pistol that was just out of reach. Just as the war beast leaped into the air for the kill, they were caught in mid-flight by a purple aura. Confused, they began flailing their legs about trying to reach the ground only a few feet below them. One of them whined. Before they knew it, they were sent hurtling through the air back at their masters, slamming into them and causing the Batarians to fly back into their cruisers. The injured soldier looked stunned, wondering if he had some unknown biotic potential. He was distracted by an immense pain originating from his legs when the pillar began to move and levitate into the air. He screamed, writhing in pain but it was clear that he was paralyzed from the waist down. Two of his comrades began dragging him away towards the nearest sentinel.

"D-Did…. Did I do that?" he asked as black spots danced about his vision.

"Naw man, that was a vanguard," his friend replied, pointing to Ana who had jogged up beside them. He looked up at her gratefully and she smiled at him in return. Soon, they were far enough away to be considered safe. The Batarians were starting to recover and she was ready for them.

"Human scum!" one of them screeched, wiping the blood from his lips.

"You Batarians don't play fair, do you?" she shot back with a sneer, hurling a ball of energy at them. It caught one of the Batarians and sent him tumbling away. But they were biotics, too; powerful biotics. It would be tough fight.

"Hashka! Vikt!" one of them shouted before that nebulous purple aura ignited around their bodies. They simultaneously thrust warp fields around her, trapping her in their deadly clutches. Warp fields worked similar to black holes but without the same magnitude or intensity. It still packed enough power to nearly shred her armor to pieces. She jerked around, trying to free herself from the suction of the warps, but to no avail. Now they were starting to shoot at her, one of the bullets burying itself into her side. If it weren't for the soldiers she had saved coming back to help her, she would have been a goner.

Shots rang through the air as two of the soldiers began firing away at the enemy. Distracted by this new show of force, the Batarians' warp fields slowly vanished, allowing Ana to break free. Pieces of her armor were missing and a web of blood began to expand around her right hip, but she grit her teeth to fight the pain.

"Get back!" she shouted to the soldiers. They complied, especially when her biotic power was starting to warm up. In moments, she let out a wave of intense biotic power that washed over the Batarians, sweeping them away as if they were merely leaves in the wind. Again they collided with their ship, but the force of her power was so strong that they were literally crushed against it… all that remained were splotches of blue over the motto of their hegemony. Ironic, when you thought about.

"Whoa… never seen a biotic do that before. At least a human one," one of the soldiers commented, wiping the sweat off of his brow.

Ana panted, flashing him a cocky grin. "Who said only the Asari could have all of the fun?" What a rush that was! She felt guilty that she actually wanted to see those bastards die as she usually wasn't one to be ruthless. But there are always casualties in war, aren't there? Better them than those soldiers.

During the first few hours of what would be known as the Skyllian Blitz to the rest of the galaxy, Shepard found herself compelled to help her fellow soldiers rather than fighting with the vanguards. Though she was a skilled biotic and chose to be a vanguard when she had the choice, it just didn't feel right leaving those soldiers to fend for themselves against biotics and tech abilities with mere guns. The least she could do was provide a barrier or two, though most of the time they let her completely wipe out the small bands of enemies that descended on them. It wasn't until nightfall that the attacks became more vicious. Reinforcements had yet to come and now nearly all of Giers's platoon and the colonists were fighting for their lives. Many were growing weary, especially the vanguards who rushed into battle without much of a strategy. Much like the Krogan, the Batarians were born warriors and had the stamina to continue fighting without any means of a break. Their numbers were dwindling slowly but still they charged in to attack.

Suddenly the dark landscape was filled with a bright flash of light that obliterated half of the vanguards on the field. New Batarian reinforcements had arrived and they were heavily-armed and packing advanced assault and rocket drones. A line of those drones sent missiles flying into the vanguards who weren't fast enough to get out of the way or erect barriers. The front line had been breached… the Batarians were now inside the perimeter and that much closer to the colony. And who was leading them but none other than the same Batarian that had attacked Mindoir: Solem. Ana had heard about his escape. One of his cousins happened to work in the prison he was sent to, a smart tactic for mercenary gangs in case they were caught. Instead of fear taking hold of her from that traumatic childhood experience, Ana felt a white hot rage building in her chest which only intensified when one of the Batarians gunned down Rachel who had tried to hold them off with some of the other unfortunate soldiers near where the explosion had occurred.

Hell no. Those damn Batarians already took her family from her. She wasn't about to lose all of her friends, too. Ana couldn't bring back the dead, but she was going to save this colony and not one more damn human soul was going to die. The vanguard hit her communications link as she sped across the field towards the Batarians.

"Commander, order a full retreat."

Giers replied almost immediately. "Are you nuts, Shepard?! We hold this position at all costs! The Alliance will be here soon, I know it!" For once in her career, she heard fear in his voice. He had all but given up hope.

"Do it, NOW!" Ana barked back, sliding right under a drone and throwing up a barrier to protect some of the soldiers too close for comfort to the Batarians. "I promise you that we'll lose more good people if you don't pull them to safety! Listen to me, Commander!"

There was silence on the other end for a few moments, giving Ana needed focus to take out some of the drones with a biotic pull which created a collision powerful enough to disable them permanently.

"When we lose this colony, Shepard, it's on your head," Giers finally replied before sending out a message to all of the soldiers on the battlefield. "Retreat! Full retreat! Pull back!"

Adepts, sentinels, and the remaining vanguards surrounded the engineers, soldiers, and infiltrators on the field before they began rushing back towards the heart of the colony. Soon they were swallowed up by the darkness, leaving only Ana and what remained of the Batarian platoon and the reinforcements. Some tried to chase after the fleeing humans, but they found themselves forcibly pulled back in front of the only Alliance soldier left to fight. Realizing this, the entire enemy squadron began to laugh.

"What is this foolishness?" Solem remarked from somewhere in the crowd before shoving his way to the front. "One Alliance soldier? Do you really think you stand a chance against the mightiest of all galactic races?" He paced in front of her, both amused and appalled that the Alliance would be so stupid as to put one soldier on the field to fight. Ana followed his movements with her icy blue gaze. He paused, recognition in his beady black eyes. "Don't I know you from somewhere?"

A fire burned in her eyes and she gave in to the power that coursed through her veins, just waiting to be set free. The biotic aura burst from every pore, nearly knocking Solem onto his back and her eyes turned a blinding white color before she levitated in the air before them. "I am the voice of Mindoir and I seek vengeance for the innocent lives you have taken!"


End file.
